Clumsy with chopsticks but can't live without them... ** I don't post English translations of Japanese recipes without permissions from the recipe authors. But feel free to contact me about the dishes you're interested in.

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"OBACHAN" means a "middle-aged woman" or "aunty" in Japanese.
.*************************. Having moved back to my hometown in April 2009, I live in one of the desperately underpopulated areas in Japan now. Let me share my life in a real countryside with aging parents living in the same house. And here in Muroto -- the place where I chose to live -- you can hear the heartbeat of the Earth! ;)

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Monday, November 26, 2007

Now it's that time of the year again. Yep, time to soak dried fruit. For what?For Christmas, of course!;)

For whatever reason, amaretto was on sale at the liquor section of the supermarket I regularly shop at. I was familiar with the name, and had read somewhere that it is used for cakes, but never actually tried it. Wanting something "different" for the fruitcake this year, I bought a small bottle of the almond based liqueur.

When I opened the bottle, heavenly aroma came out, which somehow reminded me of something very familiar. "AH! 杏仁豆腐(Chinese almond jelly)!" I thought. Yes, nice aroma. But for my fruitcake, I wanted a kick of something stronger, like rum.

So that's what I did. Amaretto and rum. Did I go off the wall again? I read that some people soak dried fruit with amaretto and add brandy. I also read that there is a cocktail you can make by mixing amaretto and rum. So ... how about 'amaretto and rum' version of fruitcake? I don't know. We'll see...

Oh, I found out that the language school I work for does not have a Christmas event. I'll have no chance to share my gingerbread fun with kids. Oh well... I'll make gingerbread people anyway for my own pleasure.

Hi Ireney,I know. And I need to do a lot in less than 30 days... :O I've never tried champagne gelatin before, but it sounds so tempting. I might give it a try this year. My, I need to start looking for recipes for my Christmas dinner...

Too bad you don't get to share your gingerbread people with the school children. I had great pleasure making them for my son in school. When my son was in first grade, I made 10 dozen for his class. The teacher used it as a learning experience and the children were given pennies to buy decorations for the cookies. 5 chocolate chips were 5 pennies, raisins were 1 penny, etc. The children were able to make their whole family, and they got to practice their money skills.